Apparatus for producing metallic magnesium



June 5, 1945. w. s. BOWEN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING METALLIC-MAGNESIUM Filed March 18, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l 'INVENTOR IV/LL/AM SPENCER Hams/v BY TTORNEYS June 5, 1945. w. s. BOWEN 2,377,478

APPARATUS FOR PRQDUCING' METALLIC MAGNESIUM Filed March 18, 1942 Z SheetS-Sheet Z w. ATTORNEY Patented June 5, 1945 ascents APPARATUS FOR EEQEEUCENG Al 415C tllllianr Spencer E oven hi cs lfield; N. 5,

Application llfiueeh i8, 51

@laims,

This invention relct-esto for re covering magnesium from masnnesiinn contalns ing compounds and relates particularly to inrprovements in reducing furnaces for magnesium compounds to metallic An object oi the invention is to prev dueling furnace by means or which magnesium compounds can be reduced to metallic mag nesium.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of typical forms of method and apparatus embodyin the present invention. t

In accordance with the present invention, I

. have provided a reducing furnace which is capable of operation under closely controlled temrrci perature conditions and which may be sealed from the surrounding atmosphere to permit close control of the reducing operation taking place therein.

More particularly, I have provided an electrically heated reducing furnace including a plural ity of electric heating elements so arranged in a furnace shaft that the material undergoing reduction therein must pass in intimate contact with the heating elements and travel through tor- I tuous passageways so that uniform heating of the material is obtained, Moreover, when treating" ores, for example, magnesium ores, which are difiicult to reduce and in which the reduced metal is readily reorddized furnaces of the type embodying the present invention may be provided with sealing means in opposite ends of the shaft which prevent the entry of air thereinto and thus prevent reox idatlon of the reduced metal In addition, the sealing means may be so arranged that the furnace can be operated under reduced pressures and the oxidizing gases produced by the reducing operation can be withdrawn in order to maintaian a favorable reducing balance between the gases and the reduced metal.

Furnaces of the type embodying the invention may be used in known processes of producing magnesium metal in which the reduced metal is vaporized and then chilled suddenly to freeze it into a powdered form. However, the furnace has the particular advantage of permitting close and accurate control of the temperature conditions prevailing within the furnace.

For a better understanding of the present in vention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 1s a view in side elevation of a typical form of reducing furnace embodying the present is a view in cross-cecticn on line 1,, disclosing details of ere is a elevation of a of 9, modified term of device embodying the in vention;

Figure 5 is a view in section taken on line 3-5 of Figure 4: and.

Figure B is a view in section showing details of the metal-receiving tank at the bottom of the furnace.

As illustrated in Figure 1, a typical form of reducing furnace illustrative of apparatus em bodying the present invention may consist of a furnace shaft In of generally square or rectangular cross-section having a lining H of refractory material therein, enclosed in a casing it of iron or steel to strengthen, rigidity and seal the fur nacc shaft against leakage or air into said furnace shaft.

As shown in Figure 3, the ill contains a plurality of heating elements it in staggered r lationshlp which may consist of tubular mesa hers i l formed cl a refractory material such as, for example, Gomorrah (silicon carbide) tile, which are suitably sec" their ends to refractory lining it or the furnace con lain electric resistance heating elements coca monly known as fillo bars formed of car bide which are heated to a terngseratme by passing electric current therethrough; The ends of the heating rods or bars l5 extend through the refractory lining H of the furnace shaft to the exterior thereof and may be connected to opposite poles of a suitable source of electric cur rent. While electric heating units are preferred because of the accurate temperature control obtainable therewith, the tubes l4 may be heated by gas or liquid fuel burners within the tubes it On opposite sides of the heating elements it are spaced apart walls 16 and ll! which are formed of refractory material dividing the shaft Ill into the gas escape ducts l8 and I9 extending along the sides of the furnace shaft and the reduction chamber 20. The walls 58 are provided with a plurality of gas escape ports 2! communieating with the interior of the furnace shaft to allow gases to escape or be withdrawn from withprovided with a refractory lining II in view of' the high temperature of the gases.

While the furnace is used for vaporizing the reduced magnesium in accordance with the process disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 425,239, filed December 31, 1941, the dues 23 and 24 may lead tangentially into an annular chamber 28 encircling the spray unit 21 of a spray drying apparatus 2|.

The spray unit 21 may be of any desired type including, for example, a rotary type spray head 21a for delivering a finely divided shower of water to chill the vaporized metal and reduce it to powdered metal. The vapors from the furnace are discharged through a tapering chamber 2! around the spray unit 21 into a collecting hopper it where the vapors and gases are chilled suddenly by the shower of water discharged by the spray head He. The gases and solidified material may be drawn off at the bottom of the hopper 30, and delivered to a collector or separator of any desired type (not shown).

The material to be reduced is fed into the inner chamber by means of a hopper Ii mounted on the upper end of the furnace shaft II and communicating with its interior. The form of hopper illustrated is provided with a door or hatch 32 at its upper end for substantially seal ing the hopper against entry of air.

As shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, the reduction furnace may be modified to render it suitable for reduction of magnesium compounds to metallic magnesium without vaporization of the metallic magnesium. In this form of device, the dues 23 and 24 are connected directly to the intake side of a suction fan I! so that the gases formed during reducing reaction can be withdrawn from the furnace.

Each of the above-described forms of reducing furnaces is provided with a slag-receiving tank or sump 3B which communicates with the reducing chamber 20 through an opening 31 at the bottom of the chamber. The opening 81 is sufficiently narrow to be disposed beneath the surfaces of and sealed by the slag and/or other molten material in the sump 3. Heating elements 38 are mounted in the tank to prevent the slag and/or other molten material from freezing. The heating elements It may be the same as the heating elements It.

In the reduction of magnesium ores or compounds such as, for example, magnesium carbonate or magnesium oxide to metal in accordance with my improved method, a finely divided mixture of magnesium oxide derived from any suitable source, such as magnesite, dolomite or sea water, and a carbonaceous reducing agent such as, for example, coke or carbon is fed into the hopper 3i and thence into the reducing chamber 20, where its temperature is raised by the heating elements it to between the melting and vaporization temperatures of metallic magneslum, i. e.,. between about 851 C. and 1102' C. Preferably, the temperature in. the furnace shaft is maintained at about 1090 C. so that the magnesium which is freed by reaction of the magnesium compound with the carbon will he in a molten state and will trickle down over the heatingelementstowardthslowerendofthemrnace shaft. 'lnecsrbonmonoxidewhichisformedby the reducingoperationiswithdrawnthroughths ducts Ii, II, It, 23 and 24 by means of the suctionfanilsoastopreventsubstantiai recombination of the carbon monoxide with the metaliicmagnesiumandtowithdrawanyairwhich mayhavebeendrawnintothefumaoeshaft with the charge.

The molten magnesium flows downwardly through the reducing chamber 2| into the receiving tank II at the bottom thereof together with any molten slag or other material and accumulates in the tank I! beneath the layer of slag which fioats on the surface of the magnesium.

The floating slag acts to prevent contact between the air and the molten magnesium.

The molten metal may be withdrawn from the tank I! in any desired or obvious manner. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the tank 3| may be provided with a downwardly extending partition "a terminating short of the bottom of the tank, and an outlet 36b in the end of the tank beneath the surface of the molten metal. A gate valve "c normallycloses the outlet llb, but may be raised to permit the molten metal to be withdrawn from the tank II from beneath the slag.

As shown in Figure 4, entry of air through the hopper ll may be avoided by connecting theupper portion of the hopper ii to the suction fan Iibymeansofaconduitllsothatairtherein will be withdrawn directly from the hopper ll rather than drawn through the charge into the reducing chamber 20.

As indicated above, sea water may be used as a source of magnesium oxide for use in my above described process. The method of recovering magnesium oxide from sea water is as follows:

40 Calcium carbonate is calcined to drive of! carcalcined to drive off carbon dioxide and leave a residue containing magnesium oxide. The heated carbon dioxide may be used in the spray drying operation referred to above, while the magnesium oxide-containing residue may be treated as described in this application to convert the magnesium oxide into metallic magnesium.

The above-described method of producing metallic magnesium from magnesium-containing compounds is advantageous in that it does not require vaporization of the reduced magnesium and quick chilling under non-oxidizing conditions that have been found necessary in some 'prior types of operations.

The furnace construction disclosed herein is advantageous in that it permits close control of the reducing temperatures and thus assures proper melting of the magnesium without vaporization of the same and without reoxidation of the magnesium to magnesium oxide. Moreover, the arrangement of the heating elements is such that the "Glo-bars" are protected from attack by the gases or the molten or heated material, but at the same time efiiciently transmit their heat to the material being reduced.

Itwillbcunderstoodthattheapparatus disclosed herein is not limited to the treatment of magnesium ores, but may be used for the reduction or heating of many different types of materials. Moreover, the process disclosed herein may be practiced with other types of reducing furnaces which have similar characteristics and, therefore, the process should not be regarded as limited to the use of the specificform of apparatus disclosed herein. Therefore, the specific embodiments of the apparatus and method disclosed herein should be considered as illustrative only and not as limiting the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for reducing ores to metal comprising a vertical furnace shaft, a plurality of heating elements, tubular shields for said heating elements extending across said shaft to form passages between said shields, means for withdrawing gases from within said furnace shaft, and a tank at the bottom of said shaft for receiving molten material to seal the bottom of said shaft.

2. An ore reducing furnace comprising a vertical furnace shaft, a plurality of heating elements, tubular shields for said heating elements extending transversely of said shaft to form passages therebetween, means for withdrawing gases from said shaft at a plurality of zones spaced vertically along said shaft, and a tank at the lower end of said shaft for receiving molten material for sealing the lower end of said shaft.

3. An ore reducing furnace comprising a vertical furnace shaft having a plurality of gas escape vents in the walls thereof, a plurality of refractory tubular members extending transverse- 1y of said shaft to form passages therebetween, heating means in said tubular members, means for sealing said shaft, and means for withdrawing gases from said furnace shaft to create a reduced pressure in said shaft.

4. A reducing furnace comprising a furnace shaft, means for introducing material to be reduced into the top of said shaft, a plurality of refractory tubes extending across said shaft in staggered relationship, electric heating elements in said tubes, means for sealing the top of said shaft, a tank at the .bottom of said shaft for receiving molten material to seal the bottom of said shaft, and means for withdrawing gases from within said shaft.

5. An ore reducing furnace comprising a vertical furnace shaft, a plurality of heating elements extending transversely of said shaft in staggered relationship to form tortuous passages therebetween, means forming ducts on opposite sides of said furnace shaft, means forming a condeming chamber, means forming a plurality of ports connecting said duets with the interior of said furnace shaft at a plurality of vertically spaced zones, means directly above said ports projecting into said shaft for shielding said ports, and a spray cooling mechanism in said chamber for producing a shower of liquid to cool gases issuing from said ducts.

7. An ore reducing furnace comprising a vertical furnace shaft, a plurality of heating elements, tubular shields for said heating elements extending transversely of said shaft in staggered relationship to form tortuous passages therebetween, means forming ducts on opposite sides of said furnace shaft, means forming a plurality of ports connecting said duets with the interior of said furnace shaft at a plurality of vertically spaced zones, means directly above said ports projecting into said shaft for shielding said ports, and means communicating with said ducts for withdrawing gases from said furnace shaft.

8. An ore reducing furnace comprising a vertical furnace shaft, a plurality of tubular members formed of refractory material extending transversely of said furnace shaft in staggered relation to form tortuous passageways therebetween, electric heating elements in said tubular members, means for sealing said furnace shaft against substantial entry of air, and means for exhausting gases from the said furnace shaft.

WILLIAM SPENCER BOWEN. 

